Harmonised Unemployment Rates (HURs), OECD - Updated: December 2015

OECD unemployment rate down to 6.6% in October 2015

09/12/2015 - The OECD unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage point to 6.6% in October 2015, 1.5 percentage points below the January 2013 peak. Across the OECD area, 40.6 million people were unemployed, 8.3 million less than in January 2013, but still 6.1 million more than in July 2008, immediately before the crisis.

In October, the euro area unemployment rate declined by 0.1 percentage point, to 10.7%, with the largest fall observed in the Slovak Republic (down 0.2 percentage point, to 10.7%). The unemployment rate also declined by 0.1 percentage point in Ireland (to 8.9%), Italy (to 11.5%) and Slovenia (to 9.1%). Outside the euro area, the unemployment rate also fell in Japan (by 0.3 percentage point, to 3.1%), Australia (by 0.3 percentage point, to 5.9%), Korea (by 0.1 percentage point, to 3.4%), Canada (by 0.1 percentage point, to 7.0%) and the United States (by 0.1 percentage point to 5.0%). More recent data show that in November 2015, the unemployment was stable in the United States (5.0%) while it increased by 0.1 percentage point in Canada (to 7.1%).

The OECD youth unemployment rate (among 15-24 year-olds) increased by 0.1 percentage point, to 13.6% in October, with trends differing across countries. The youth unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point in the euro area (to 22.3%) and the United States (to 11.1%) while it decreased in Japan (by 0.4 percentage point, to 5.5%) and Canada (by 0.2 percentage point, to 13.3%). Youth unemployment rates remain exceptionally high in Greece (47.9 % in August, the latest month available) and Spain (47.7%), albeit respectively, 1.9 percentage points and 4.4 percentage points lower than one year before..

OECD Harmonised Unemployment Rates, s.a.

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(1) The United Kingdom figures refer to August 2015 data compared to July 2015 and August 2014 data.

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